Business and Economics School to Receive $3 Million

Jan. 22, 2015

Business and Economics School to Receive $3 Million

Grant to Fund Four Long-term Faculty Researching Virtue in Business

	Dean Andrew Abela addresses the Class of 2018 during Orientation last fall.

The Catholic University of America’s School of Business and Economics has received a commitment of up to $3 million from the Charles Koch Foundation ($1,750,000), the Busch Family Foundation ($500,000), and three business leaders (each contributing $250,000) to support additional faculty members who will bolster the school’s goal of advancing the study and practice of principled entrepreneurship.
“This new $3 million grant puts our school far along the path of creating a cadre of faculty dedicated to research exploring how we can make business and economics more humane,” said Andrew Abela, dean of the school. “That’s not only the vision for our school; it’s also a moral imperative that Pope Francis has been championing with great passion.”
The $3 million pledge comes a little more than a year since the Charles Koch Foundation and the Busch Family Foundation committed $1 million and $500,000, respectively, to the business and economics school to support four visiting scholars researching principled entrepreneurship as a catalyst for improving society’s well-being.
The four additional faculty, who may be hired as early as fall 2015, will be long-term scholars who teach in the management area and share a common focus in research on the integration of Catholic social doctrine within business professions.
The Charles Koch Foundation supports research and higher education programs focused on advancing an understanding of how free societies improve well-being, especially for the least fortunate. The Busch Family Foundation was founded by Timothy R. Busch and his wife, Steph. Timothy Busch is a member of The Catholic University of America’s Board of Trustees and the School of Business and Economics Board of Visitors, and chairman of the board of the Napa Institute.
The three Catholic business leaders who have each committed $250,000 – Sean Fieler, Frank Hanna, and Michael Millette – are all members of the business and economics school’s Board of Visitors. Millette is a member of CUA’s Board of Trustees.
“I am proud to donate to CUA’s vision for an educational program that shows how capitalism and Catholicism can work hand in hand,” Timothy Busch said. “The school, an integral part of the only pontifical university in the country, will have a unique role in teaching this message to future business leaders – and to the rest of the American Church.”
“Catholic University’s increased commitment to exploring principled entrepreneurship will engage more students and scholars in crucial debates about the role of business in society,” said Brian Hooks, president of the Charles Koch Foundation. “This additional grant will accelerate the University’s efforts to understand how businesses best create value in society.”
The University will search for, recruit, and select the new professors in accordance with existing University hiring policies.
The mission of The Catholic University of America School of Business and Economics is to provide intellectual leadership in business and economics through practical and theoretical education and scholarship, inspired by the Catholic principles of human dignity, solidarity, subsidiarity and the common good, in support of the mission of the University. It is one of 12 schools at the University, which was founded in 1887 as a graduate research institution.

MEDIA: For more information, contact Katie Lee or Mary McCarthy Hines in the Office of Public Affairs at 202-319-5600 or cua-public-affairs@cua.edu.

Note: \This article is the press release from CUA Public Affairs, originally posted here.